Overview
For women and men who have isolated areas of fat despite a healthy lifestyle, Dr. Decherd and Dr. Isakson offer liposuction to help slim the body and improve one’s appearance and silhouette. Liposuction is not used for weight loss, nor should it be considered a part of any diet plan, but it can be helpful to reshape a specific body area. Common body parts where liposuction has proven to be successful include the tummy, the outer thighs, inner thighs, and flanks. In order for liposuction to be successful, one needs skin that will retract. After the fat is removed, the skin needs to shrink down to show the new shape. Therefore, San Antonio patients with loose and sagging skin may be better suited for a tummy tuck or other skin-tightening procedures.
Liposuction Video
Good Candidates
There are good candidates for liposuction, and some patients who it simply will not work for. Patients considering lipo must have relatively good skin tone. For example, if someone has experienced a massive weight loss, liposuction is probably not a good option. A skin-tightening procedure will garner better results. In addition, women who have had children are usually not good candidates for tummy liposuction, although they might be good candidates for outer thigh lipo. The ideal candidate is someone who is in pretty good shape and has a healthy skin tone that has areas that need reshaping. For example, there are some women who are in great shape but who have some fat deposits in the "saddlebag" area of the outer thigh. Removing this fat helps bring this one spot into proportion with the rest of their legs.
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Surgical Technique
A common approach for liposuction among experienced surgeons is the tumescent liposuction method. During this procedure, we put in tumescent solution, which includes lidocaine and other medicines to help the process and decrease blood loss. Using a small incision, a metal tube with holes in the end is inserted via a fanning motion; during this process, fat is removed from the affected areas. As the procedure continues, we switch to progressively smaller tubes (cannulas) to prevent contour irregularities.
During/After Surgery
Liposuction is an outpatient procedure performed under general anesthesia. Once the patient is released to go home, they wear a tight compression garment to try and promote skin contraction and help obliterate the potential space where the fat once existed. After a short period of rest, patients are encouraged to move around as best they can in order to promote healthy circulation. Bruising will most likely occur. In most cases, the bruising is gone after a few weeks. Patients will also be swollen, which can last up to 1-2 months. It takes several months for the final results to appear.
Plan Your Procedure
- Recovery Time
- 1 Week
- Average Procedure Time
- 1-5 Hours
- Post-op Follow-up
- 2 Weeks
- Procedure Recovery Location
- Outpatient
Liposuction FAQs
Will I Lose Weight?
Liposuction is not a weight loss plan. It is a plan to reshape a specific body area. That being said, when it is all healed, there most likely will be a small drop-off at the scale, simply because fat is physically removed.
How Bad Is The Scarring?
During liposuction, small incisions are made. These incisions will lead to some scarring, but generally this is not a huge issue.
Will The Fat Reappear?
Patients that gain weight after completing a liposuction procedure will cause fat to distribute throughout the body. Because there will be less fat cells at the site of the liposuction, it may seem as though another area is gaining fat. For example, if a patient gains weight in the outer thighs, and then gets liposuction there, there are fewer fat cells there to accept new fat. So if this patient eases off a healthy diet and exercise program some, he or she may notice weight gain in other areas.
Can't I Just Exercise?
Exercise is always a good thing, but we see many women who are in great shape but still have pockets of fat that simply will not go away. These pockets are amenable to liposuction.
